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This post was inspired by How Do People Survive on Minimum Wage. Andrea is asking for real life examples and I immediately thought of my aunt and uncle who have been working for minimum wage for the past 4 years. I asked my aunt and uncle to share their budget on how they manage to survive and even save on a minimum wage income and they agreed as long as I do not publish any names.
Background info: My aunt and uncle both work at the same packing factory and earn minimum wage. They do not receive government assistance of any kind. They live in a suburb of New York City and take 2 buses to work. Total travel time of at least one hour each way and two hours each way when it snows.
Fixed Monthly Expenses:
Net monthly income for two @ $7.50 per hour: $2079 ($1039.50 per person)
Rent including all utilities & internet: $700 (Shared bathroom & kitchen with another couple)
Transportation: $208 (NYC Monthly MetroCard $104 per person)
Laundromat: $15
Food and household goods: $450
Uncle’s cigarettes: $90
Fun money/misc: $100
Total Monthly Fixed Expenses: $1563
Monthly Savings: $516
Yearly Savings: $6192
Savings for the past 4 years: $24,768
My aunt and uncle also earns additional income when they work overtime but they earmark those funds for vacation. Because of that, they have been able to afford a 1 week vacation every year!
Here are some of their tips:
(1) Move to a place with a strong public transportation system. The cost of car ownership is too high on a minimum income budget.
(2) Prepaid cellphones only. The T-Mobile rechargeable cellphone cards costs $100 for 1000 minutes.
(3) Shared accommodations is a must as expenses will be drastically reduced.
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Tagged: minimum wage budget, saving money minimum wage, Saving Money While Earning Minimum Wage, surviving on minimum wage
my husband earns a little more than minimum wage where we live, and I think the only thing that’s kept us afloat is my salary. that’s amazing that your aunt and uncle can still manage to save for a vacation every year despite living on minimum wage! I firmly believe you need to make travel a priority if you want to make it happen!
I think their annual vacation is what keeps them going. You need to have something to look foward to in life. =)
Ouch, $90 on cigarettes?! The rest seems quite good. I am impressed with the rent price, that seems fairly affordable, though you do note it is shared accommodation. The point about good transit is very, very true.
My aunt has been after my uncle to quit smoking for years but he is saying that he has few joys in life since he earns a minimum wage so they have agreed to keep it in the budget.
Their accomodations are not huge. They share a 1000sq apartment with another couple and get about 450sq of privacy to themselves.
Ouch that’s pretty hard core for a married couple to share a bathroom and kitchen.
It is not as uncommon as you might think in NYC. Lots of immigrant families do it. In my early years in NYC, my family shared a kitchen and bathroom with several other families. But it did enable them to save money towards an emergency fund and a downpayment for their first apartment.
Living in NYC in my 20s sure helped me understand how to minimize expenses. Few New Yorkers have cars and even fewer buy their homes. Tiny apartments help to minimize buying many consumer goods.
I miss NYC now that I am living elsewhere, in a suburb. Now, it sometimes seems like I am the only one who tries not to waste giant amounts of money (that I don’t have) living in a huge house, driving a large vehicle or filling up my home with endless amounts of junk.
Thanks for the reality check, chubblywubbly!
Your welcome. =)
Depends. Have they been good to you or just ignorant? Are the still toehgetr and married? Technically with the way baby boomers have taken advantage of the system ie women you can get child support well your in college from them and since you are underaged they have the LEGAL duty to support and house you.They can’t just kick you out that would be illegal.Also after your 18 even if your not paying rent again due to baby boomer women they cannot just kick you out they’d have to evict you if you were living there and that could take up to a year and then you’d need to wait for a sherif to evict you which takes longer Was this answer helpful?
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